Some cheating isn’t even considered cheating. Football games are won by trick plays and earn quarterbacks the title of hero, along with multimillion-dollar salaries. Other cheating is entertaining, like the magician’s repertoire of card tricks, sleight of hand, and beautiful women who disappear or survive being sawed in half. Military strategy often involves camouflage, which throughout history has won wars, going back to the Trojan horse in ancient Greece.
Most cheating however is undesirable, whether it’s a gambler trying to beat the casino, the student who cheats on exams, the citizen who fudges numbers on a tax return, or the CEO who pays himself a multi-million-dollar bonus while shareholder profits plummet. But perhaps the most disappointing, and personally painful, cheating is that which occurs among lovers and spouses.
